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The 2023-24 Red Raider Basketball Season came to a close on Saturday night as the Red Raiders fell in the first round of the Region 5 Tournament to the Franklin Admirals.

Coffee County would lead at the start, outscoring Franklin 12-10 in the first quarter as Cooper Reed scored eight points in the opening frame.

The Admirals would take command in the second quarter, outscoring the Red Raiders 18-13 to lead at halftime, 28-25.

Franklin continued to roll in the third quarter as the Admirals outpaced the Red Raiders 15-7 to lead 43-32 heading into the fourth, where they would hold to win the game, 61-51.

“We got beat by a good team tonight,” said Coach Andrew Taylor. “They’re well coached, have an excellent point guard, have guys on the perimeter that can shoot well and a bug guy down in the post. We just got beat by a better team tonight.”

Scoring for the Red Raiders in this one were Cooper Reed with 21 points, Jackson Shemwell with 15 points, Brady Wright and Jayden Carter six points each, Cayden Trail with two and Courtland Farrar with one point.

While the end result wasn’t what the team wanted, there was still something to celebrate as Cooper Reed scored the 1000th point of his career in the waning moments of the game.

“To hit that mark in the last game of the season is very cool,” said Reed. “I’ve enjoyed playing with these guys and playing for my coaches. They’ve shaped me into who I am today. It was a good four years and I wouldn’t change it for anything.”

“Cooper is a fantastic person, a top 10% student and he works his butt off,” said Coach Taylor. “It’s great to see that all of his hard work has paid off. I’m really happy for him.”

The Red Raiders have navigated many peaks and valleys this season, and they finished the year with an 18-13 overall record, going 8-2 in regular season district play and winning the Regular Season District Championship.

Ultimately, Coach Taylor believes that this season was a successful one.

“We had 18 wins on a team that only had three really experienced guys come back from the previous year,” said Taylor. “We rotated eight guys pretty consistently throughout the season and five of them didn’t have much varsity experience before the season started. You also look at the schedule we had this year with teams like Cane Ridge, Blackman, Oakland, Kirkwood and Dyersburg and it is one of the toughest schedules we have had in my time at Coffee County, and every night these guys played their guts out.”

Taylor also had some final thoughts about this year’s senior players.

“I’m going to miss their competitive spirit and their work ethic. Camden came to this team two years ago having never played organized basketball, and tonight he was battling it out in the Region Tournament. Jackson and Cooper have provided tremendous leadership all year long and I’m going to miss the relationship with these kids that was built over the last four years. They’re going to go out and be great people in the community, all three of them, and whether they stay here in Coffee County or go somewhere else, they’re going to do good things because they are hard workers.”